– Deadly sars-like virus ‘had origins in UAE’ (The National, June 23, 2013):
Of the 64 laboratory-confirmed cases reported so far, more than half have died.
– New Mers-Coronavirus continues to smoulder BBC News, June 23, 2013)
– 8 MERS PCR Confirmations In Asymptomatic HCWs & Children (Recombinomics, June 23, 2013)
– MERS PCR Confirmed In Asymptomatic HCWs In Taif KSA (Recombinomics, June 22, 2013)
– New death in Saudi Arabia from SARS-like coronavirus MERS (Reuters, June 22, 2013)
– MERS-CoV Hospital Outbreak Causes Significant Morbidity (Medscape, June 21, 2013)
– Person-to-Person Transmission of Lethal SARS-Like Virus Identified (MPR/HealthDay News, June 20, 2013):
Person-to-person transmission of the novel Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been described in a cluster of health care-associated infections in Saudi Arabia, according to research published online June 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
– MERS-CoV Easily Spreads In Hospitals (Medical News Today, June 20, 2013):
A team of experts who traveled to Saudi Arabia have reported that the new Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is easily transmitted in healthcare settings, posing a serious public health threat.
The researchers from Johns Hopkins University studied how the virus spread in four different Saudi hospitals. They published their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine.
MERS-CoV is much deadlier than the coronavirus responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the authors wrote. MERS-CoV has killed 38 people worldwide so far, according to WHO (World Health Organization). Thirty-two of those deaths occurred in Saudi Arabia. According to the researchers, MERS-CoV kills 60% of the people it infects.
The virus is capable of person-to-person transmission and circulate in healthcare settings with “considerable morbidity.”